It has been found desirable for retail stores to display food items in individually wrapped packages. Such individual packages generally comprise a tray with an absorbent pad in the bottom of the tray to absorb any juices or liquids exuding from the food product. An outer plastic wrapping is usually used to cover the food product and tray to complete the package. There have been various attempts to control these liquids in order to extend the shelf-life of such food products. Various packages are known in the art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,382,507 discloses an absorbent pad disposed in a food package for absorbing juices or other exuding liquids. The absorbent pad disclosed therein comprises a mat of liquid absorbent material, an upper liquid impermeable plastic sheet overlying the absorbent mat, and a perforated lower plastic sheet underlying the absorbent mat. The upper and lower plastic sheets extend beyond the absorbent mat and are sealed together to enclose the absorbent mat therebetween. When a food product is positioned upon the upper sheet of the absorbent pad, any exuded liquids will flow around the pad and enter the pad by capillary action through the perforations in the lower sheet. The absorbent pad herein described retards reverse migration of exuded liquid to some extent, but still subject to reverse migration when pressure is applied to the pad.
While the inventions known in the art have resulted to the advancement within the present field, an important problem in this area continues to persist. This problem arises from the fact that the package known in the prior art fail to efficaciously absorb and retain exuded liquid from the packaged product. Therefore, these exuded liquids tend to accumulate in the receptacle and to go back to the food product or its vicinity. As a consequence, this provides an environment supportive of the growth and proliferation of microorganisms, thereby minimizing the appearance and shelf-life of the food product.